French tax authority uses AI to detect undeclared pools

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Since 2021, France’s DGFiP uses Foncier Innovant, an AI image-analysis system developed with Google and Capgemini, to scan aerial imagery for undeclared private pools. In 2023 it flagged 140,000 unreported pools, yielding €40 million in extra property tax and prompting plans to extend detection to other constructions.[AI generated]

Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?

An AI system is explicitly mentioned as being used to analyze aerial images and detect undeclared swimming pools, which directly leads to the identification of tax fraud and additional tax collection. This constitutes a violation of applicable law (tax law) and fundamental rights related to property and taxation. The harm is realized and directly linked to the AI system's use. Therefore, this event qualifies as an AI Incident under the framework, specifically under category (c) violations of human rights or breach of obligations under applicable law.[AI generated]
AI principles
AccountabilityFairnessPrivacy & data governanceRespect of human rightsTransparency & explainabilityDemocracy & human autonomy
Industries
Government, security, and defenceIT infrastructure and hosting
Affected stakeholders
General public
Harm types
Economic/PropertyHuman or fundamental rights
Severity
AI incident
Business function:
Compliance and justiceMonitoring and quality control
AI system task:
Recognition/object detection

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